


Equal Exchange

by DarkShadeless



Series: SWTOR - collection [18]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Identity Porn, It is now, M/M, Sith Culture, Sith flirting, XD, anyway, how, how is this relationship tag not a tag, omg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-02-01 01:18:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21310837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShadeless/pseuds/DarkShadeless
Summary: Baras is aware of Retrost's interest long before they actually meet.
Relationships: Darth Baras/Nomen Karr
Series: SWTOR - collection [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/906084
Comments: 11
Kudos: 29





	Equal Exchange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bunnyloverXIV](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnyloverXIV/gifts).

> Born from a discussion of Sith relationship customs on tumblr. Enjoy ;)

Baras is aware of Lord Retrost long before they actually meet. Naturally. He would have to question his dedication to his craft if that were otherwise.

So, when Retrost insinuates himself into his circles, he knows. When the young Lord dances around Baras own sphere of influence carefully, slow in his rise through the ranks but so steady that that pace can’t be anything but deliberate on his part, he knows.

He watches, waits, as he always does. He’s a spider in his net and just like a spider he is not surprised when the insects plucking his threads fall into his lap.

Retrost takes care to make their introduction look like an accident. Truly, if Baras had been anyone else, his machinations might have gone unnoticed. Baras finds that watching that sort of skill at work, even if it is not quite as great as his own, gives him a certain… satisfaction.

It is… thrilling. Flattering.

How Ekage laughs at him when she reads his preoccupation right off his face. He needs to wear his mask around his wretched sister more often.

In the meantime he will have to salve his bruised ego with the spike of thwarted aggravation Retrost can’t contain when Baras dismisses him out of hand. The snub stirs his passion enough to put a chink in his self-possession, fiery and raw for the brief moment before it closes again. It’s a thing of beauty.

But Baras is hardly so easy to entice. Retrost will have to put a little more work into his scheming if he really wants to draw his attention, for whatever ends he has in mind.

That Baras does not know and hasn’t been able to discern his goals until now… well. That might just be part of the appeal.

* * *

_Five years later_

“You are impossible.” Baras puts every last ounce of the disgust he feels at having to make the trek into the uncivilised wasteland that is Nar Shaddaa himself to extract his partner from the clutches of their latest and now very deceased rival. “Unbelievable.”

Retrost, entirely unrepentant, flashes him a roguish smile. “Why, thank you.”

Baras glances at him balefully. “That was not a compliment.”

His partner rolls his eyes. “Always a critic.” When he looks at him from under his lashes Baras finds himself at a loss for words. Damn him. Never one to be caught out he speeds his steps. “Oh come now! Don’t be that way.”

‘_Don’t be that way._’ How entirely _infuriating_. “Do you have any idea how many favors I had to call in to get here on time?”

The answer is ‘too many’ and still it was so close… if Baras had come but a minute later, who knows what the Jedi might have done to Retrost in his absence.

Never mind that. They are dead now.

Retrost catches up to him as he attempts to calm himself. He brushes past just close enough for their armor to touch. “Well,” he sounds a touch repentant now as he damned well should, “however will I repay you?”

The teasing lilt is belayed by the tension underneath. Baras finds himself unbending despite himself. Just a bit. Just enough. He sighs deeply. What a thing to ask. “I suppose the pleasure of your company will suffice.”

Restrost’s humor restores itself under the veiled, grudging reassurance. Compared to the last the smile he favors Baras with is entirely too soft. “Will it?”

Baras has to look away from the inviting curve of his lips or make even more of a production of himself than he already has. “Only just.”

There are no debts between equals, after all.


End file.
